


Gaslight, Starlight

by writingdetritus



Series: Kiss the Sky [2]
Category: Borderlands (Video Games), Tales from the Borderlands - Fandom
Genre: F/F, Its A Date, i'm one of the only people who is into this ship but do you see that deterring me??? no, it gets a little deep but only for a sec, then its pretty fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-03
Updated: 2017-09-03
Packaged: 2018-12-23 10:30:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11987958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writingdetritus/pseuds/writingdetritus
Summary: A sequel toCon Artist or Accidental Pickup Artist. Maya takes Fiona on a late night casual date.





	Gaslight, Starlight

**Author's Note:**

> A sequel to [Con Artist or Accidental Pickup Artist](http://archiveofourown.org/works/9461852)  
> 

Fiona couldn’t help but look back down at her Echo to reread the message she had received only a few hours ago. She sat on a low fence, just outside of town, the sun beginning to set. Cars drove by, kicking dust up into her face, making her continually cough and wipe the green screen over and over again on her Echo. Good thing she hadn’t worn her nice threads because they would have been ruined by the time she was suppose to meet up… Meet up with Maya. Maya. She looked back down at her Echo screen and reread the note for the 37th time.

 _Hey con-artist, Siren here. Got your message about wanting to talk more vault hunting business. Don’t know about the_ business _of it all but I can tell you more of my wild stories if that’s of interest to you._

It was 17 minutes past the time they were suppose to meet, but for some reason that didn’t phase Fiona at all. She counted the seconds on the next minute, staring across the flat landscape. Her whole life she had lived on Pandora and yet… now it felt like she was finally finding that adventure she had always been seeking, and she didn’t even need to blast off.

A rumbling of a motorcycle pulled up to the entrance of town, but instead of passing by, the rumble lingered next to her, and Fiona squinted at the silhouette of - oh no.

“Get on!” Maya yelled over the roar of the engine, throwing her thumb over her shoulder. “We’re gonna tell ghost stories in the Dust!”

“We?” Fiona yelled, nervously running her fingers along the lapel of her jacket.

“Yeah, I mean… you were waiting for me right?” Maya squinted at Fiona.

“Oh yeah! I meant the ghost stories,” Fiona blushed, pushing a lock of hair distractedly behind her ear.

“Well, you gotta have stories too - taking down Hyperion? Jack 2.0?” Maya winked. “Come on! Hop on!”

Fiona nervously hoisted herself onto the huge motorcycle, and desperately wrapped her arms around Maya’s waist. If it hadn’t been so terrifying, this might have been a romantic moment, but all Fiona could manage to muster to mind as Maya revved the engine was _if I let go of her, I’d probably end up looking like a skag or something._ So, no letting go.

The first five to ten minutes were hellish for Fiona, the wind whipping her hair into her eyes so it felt like it was leaving tiny cuts everywhere, and it was so uncomfortable every time the wheels hit stones and potholes. It wasn’t until Maya had yelled behind her “Relax! You’re killing me with that grip!” did Fiona relax. Finally, she looked around her, taking the landscape all in.

The sky was beautiful, the sun setting behind distant mountains, the mountains themselves casting long, dark blue shadows. Little dust eddies and dust devils caught the dying light and sparkled like they were made from gold dust. Fiona watched the landscape zip by, faster than the caravan could go if you weren’t trying to kill yourself and everyone else with that crazy booster. And slowly, as the sun finally slid out of sight, the rotating stars lit up with sky, sparkling down, casting their silver light coldly on the darkening surface.

After the sky was dark, with only Elpis to reflect its light down, did Maya begin to slow down the bike. Fiona leaned back and looked around, pushing her hair out of her eyes. “So… where are we going?”

“There’s a place out here, abandoned, but I figure we can sit, drink a couple of beers, chat.” Maya said, looking into the dark.

“Does this bike not have headlights?” Fiona asked, squinting along with Maya.

“No, broke, and I haven’t bothered getting them fixed, not since Scooter… well, haven’t gotten the nerve to step into his garage or his sister’s since.” Maya sighed, and Fiona could feel a sudden heaviness overtake her. A moment past, Fiona silently panicking, weighing her options on what to say or not say, when Maya lightened back up. “I know we’re close…. Just so hard when there are hardly any landmarks to go by even during the day. Here, hold on a sec.” Maya stopped the bike and stood up, extending her tattooed arm up and suddenly….

“Holy fuck!” Fiona quickly pressed the back of her hand into her teeth at the sound of her own voice, her face burning hot, but she had had no idea that Maya’s tattoos… or maybe markings, could light up like that - it was shocking and enthralling all at the same time. God damn Sirens, man!

“Neat, huh?” Maya looked over her shoulder at Fiona, her hand held up in front of them as they started to trundle on. They only traversed a few more yards before, looming out of the darkness, rusty metal highlighting in blue, an abandoned gas station greeted them. “Nice!” Fiona noticed Maya give a small fist pump, but didn’t comment as suddenly Maya’s cheeks seemed flushed.

“How’d you know about this place?” Fiona asked, swinging her legs off the bike and looking at the gas station, stretching her back. The station sagged into the sand of the Dust; the roof was easily accessible from a rising dune on one side. “Usually these places just get swallowed up and never get spit out.”

“I’ve hung out here with Mordecai and Brick, so you’ll have to ask them,” Maya shrugged, turning off the bike. “There’s a generator back here, we can turn on some lights.”

Fiona followed the still glowing Maya as they entered the gas station, and walked to the old dusty generator sitting in the corner, next to a nonfunctioning Marcus vending machine. It took a few tries, but eventually Maya got it rumbling and the yellow light outside flickered on.

 

They sat on some lawn chairs that previous beer drinkers had thrown onto the roof, Maya fishing out a few beers from the bag on her bike and handed them to Fiona. Fiona handled hers gingerly, a nervous energy running through her fingertips as Maya sat down next to her and sighed, her bottle cap snapping off and clinking on the tin roof. A soft breeze blew by, and soon the sound of chirping insects came closer to the pulsating light that swung below them, creating eerie, long shadows.

“It’s a little chilly,” Maya frowned, looking down at her beer bottle. “Maybe I should make a fire.”

“Would be appropriate for ghost stories,” Fiona nervously laughed. Maya leaned on her knees and turned to look at Fiona, a grin forming on her blue lips. God that girl had a color scheme going.

“You have some?”

“Some what?” Fiona asked, her eyes snapping back to Maya’s eyes.

“Ghost stories, dummy!”

“Doesn’t everyone on Pandora?”

“I know I sure do,” Maya fell back into her chair. “And some of them not even from Pandora.”

“Huh?” Fiona asked.

“Hmm, you go first,” Maya took a swig of her beer. “Talk to me while I build a fire.”

“What should I tell you?” Fiona felt so at a loss. What was her life compared to that of a bonafide Siren, Vault Hunter, and overall Badass?

“I don’t know, what’s the spookiest thing that’s happened to you out here on Pandora?” Maya asked while standing up and moving around to find some tinder.

“Oh uh,” Fiona wracked her brain, leaning forward, dangling the beer between her knees. She spun the bottle loosely, listening to the swish of the beer inside, watching Maya move lithely around, starting a small fire. “Oh! So, when Sasha and I - Sasha’s my sister - when she and I were little, we woke up one morning to find the whole town of Hollow Point, which is in a cave,” Fiona began, smiling to herself at the memory. “We found the whole town covered in fog. Really dense… creepy… fog. We couldn’t see past our hands outstretched.”

“Ooh,” Maya turned, grinning at Fiona, the eerie light from below casting strange shadows onto her face.

“We didn’t know what to do! We’d never actually seen _fog._ We called it ‘The Great Steam’ because it looked like the whole cave had been enveloped in steam from engines and reactors,” Fiona gestured her hands, mimicking the billowing of steam clouds rising. Maya smirked, and then bent back down to continue trying to get the fire started. “We were _so scared._ Sasha wouldn’t even go near the window, and Felix…” Fiona paused. Then shook herself. “Felix, our like… caregiver I guess, he told us to stay while he went out to find out what was going on. He left, and I’m there, taking care of little scared shitless Sasha, when we hear a knock. Not on the door, but on the window.”

“Oooh!” Maya repeated, bouncing on her heels a little. “And then?”

“I went to the window and kind of peeked out, but the fog was so dense that I couldn’t see anything, but then… I saw it -”

“What?” Maya was either seriously enraptured or faking it for Fiona’s sake. Either way, Fiona adored it.

She lifted her hand, shaping it into a claw, “The hand!” She waved her hand in the air. “It was covered in bandages and all bloody! Sasha started to scream and I definitely got the hell out of the way. And that’s when Felix came back.”

“And?” Maya asked, leaning forward.

“And…,” Fiona faltered. “Hmm, turned out the fog _was_ actually steam mixed with natural gas because some line deeper in the cave blew. The gas was denser than the air I guess? So it just kind of hung around for awhile, didn’t get blown out. The whole town had to evacuate for a couple of hours. During this whole period of convenient cover, bandits started robbing houses, even some psychos joined in. So I think it was a bandit seeing if anyone was  home - didn’t want to barge in and get blasted in the stomach with a shotgun. So, not actually that scary.”

There was a moment of silence. Then, “Wait… wait,wait, wait. Not that scary?! How old were you?” Maya blurted.

“Ehh…,” Fiona took a sip from her beer, pondering. “Like… twelve? Sasha was like nine probably.”

“How is that not scary?” Maya gasped. “You were just two little kids! Something bad could have happened!”

“But nothing did!” Fiona suddenly felt defensive. Maybe it was the alcohol. “I don’t… I don’t mean to sound crass or anything, but I don’t know the life of Sirens. Kids growing up on Pandora, especially alone….the mortality rate is extremely high. Sasha and I were the exception to the rules.” Fiona looked down at her beer, a heat burning her neck and cheeks.

“Sorry…” Maya said quietly. “It’s true, I don’t know how kids grow up on Pandora.”

“Huh?” Fiona looked down at her, sitting cross legged next to the still not lit fire.

“I mean, I grew up on a different planet. I’m still kinda new to Pandora,” Maya shrugged. “Guess you could say you’re talking to an alien right now!” She smiled softly at Fiona. “I didn’t mean to belittle your story.”

“Belittle - no, no, it’s fine. Sorry,” Fiona laughed a little. She felt so goddamn awkward. “I sometimes get defensive over… my childhood. Shit. And Sasha’s.”

“So Sasha’s younger than you?” Maya asked. Fiona nodded. “Does she want to be a Vault Hunter as well?”

“Ehhh,” Fiona wobbled her hand in the air. “She likes the idea of money sure, but… she’s more into… taking down the Big Man.”

“The ‘big man’?” Maya asked, her eyebrows coming together quizzically.

“Hmm, like Hyperion was, or even Dahl. Or Atlas!” Fiona gestured at the sky when mentioning Hyperion before remember that Helios was no longer orbiting Elpis.

“Ah, a revolutionary,” Maya looked over the Dust. “I like her already.”

“She is also way into guns.”

“Oooh! Me too!”

“You’d be best friends,” Fiona winked at Maya. They sat in silence, Maya digging in her pockets for a lighter. Fiona popped another beer nervously, watching as small sparks started to ignite the tinder Maya had set out. After a quick sip, she broke the silence, “What about you? Got any good ones?”

Maya didn’t answer right away, preoccupied with tending to the small fire. When she was satisfied, she looked up at Fiona, her silver eyes glinting back the firelight. “Oh, not really.”

“Really?” Fiona raised an eyebrow.

“I have my fair share of battle stories, but ghost stories….”

“Your childhood? Anything spooky on your planet?”

“Spooky, not really. Weird, scary, and awful? Sure... lots of that,” Maya sighed. “Compared to you, I had it pretty great, and even compared to… Angel….”

“Angel?” Fiona asked timidly. She felt like she was starting to brush along an invisible fence she should not jump over.

“Another Siren. She’s gone now,” Maya shifted herself back into the lawn chair and took a long draught from her beer bottle. After a moment, she grinned at the fire. “The first sandstorm I was in was probably the scariest. Athenas, my home planet, is like one huge jungle, or at least that’s what it feels like. Didn’t even have oceans near me. Never saw one of those till I was in orbit, leaving it for good. But a sandstorm… now _that_ is scary.”

“Agreed,” Fiona raised her bottle. “And I grew up in them. Can’t even remember the first anymore.”

“I was stuck in… basically a place like this,” Maya gestured below. “I couldn’t hear anything or see anything, it felt like this weird twilight zone.” Fiona had lived through quite a number of sandstorms and knew exactly how bad they could get, but she didn’t want to interrupt Maya’s story. She leaned forward. “I remember looking out at one point, and I swore I could see a bunch of dancing shadows… I was terrified. I phaselocked randomly - “

“Wait, phaselocked?” Fiona couldn’t help but ask.

“Hmm, my powers. That’s what I call them,” Maya lifted her marked arm, grinning as she let the blue swirls flash in the night for a hot second. Fiona almost swooned. “But I didn’t get anything. After a while, I figured I was just going mad from the noise! It was _so loud._ ” She launched her empty bottle over the edge of the gas station roof, then popped another cap off, the tinkle on the roof echoing eerily across the empty Dust. Fiona suddenly shivered. Was all this hair-raising talk really starting to get to her? “The storm went on for _hours._ And more shadows kept coming closer. I didn’t know what to do, I’ll admit I kind of freaked. I finally exhausted myself so much I just kind of passed out in a corner, really god damn hoping nothing would crawl its way in.” Maya paused and chugged the beer, then set it down next to her. She leaned forward towards Fiona, her eyes narrowing. “When I woke up, the storm was gone and I went outside, and there were all around the little place I had staked out, hundreds of footprints.”

Fiona’s skin crawled. “Human?” She whispered.

Maya laughed, leaning back into the lawn chair, “Nah, just skags. But that was a pretty good story, wasn’t it!”

Fiona laughed nervously, quickly scanning the darkness that was only impeded by the dim fire and the soft sway of the light bulb below. “Yeah… that was great....”

Maya laughed harder at the weak response, putting her hand on Fiona’s shoulder. Fiona looked down at the blue markings, at the light purple painted nails ( _damn girl),_ and then she slowly traveled her eyes up to… Maya was very close. Very, _very_ close. Like that night, after the drinking, and the talking, and the sideways looks…. Fiona felt her lungs collapse a little. Yup, this would be her end. She knew it. Death by sexual tension.

Maya’s eyelashes fluttered as she leaned close to Fiona, and Fiona put a hand on Maya’s shoulder as they moved nearer together. Soon, they were breathing each other’s air, but neither made the first move.

“I’m not drunk,” Fiona whispered to Maya.

“Is that a problem?” Maya cooed back.

“Only for my confidence,” Fiona could feel Maya gripping her arm tighter.

“Well I’m not drunk either.”

“Then what about _your_ confidence.”

“Better than ever,” And then Maya was kissing Fiona, under the moving sky, with the sound of little bugs flying around by the dancing light, with beer bottle clinking underfoot as Fiona struggled to shift _even closer._ It was better than last time. Better because it was just them. Better because Maya had chosen Fiona. Better because Fiona was letting herself live _this_ right now.

They broke apart, Maya licking her lips, and Fiona trying desperately to hide the gaspy breaths she had to take to steady her racing heart.

“I’m glad I met you,” Maya murmured, repeating the words they had shared together before, pushing the ever loose strand of hair behind Fiona’s ear, gazing at every part of her face.

“Me too,” Fiona smiled sheepishly. This time Fiona leaned forward and stole a kiss from the Siren. Her face must look like a bruise, with all her blushing and Maya’s blue lipstick everywhere. But _damn_ she loved it.

“We should head back,” Maya whispered into Fiona’s lips.

“Your place or mine,” Fiona asked without thinking. There was a stunned pause, and then Fiona was hurling herself backwards in embarrassment. “I meant! Oh my god, uuh,” she started to stand, looking to desperately find something to throw the attention onto.

Maya was laughing her head off, pushing the lawn chair back onto its two back legs. Fiona stood, the warmth of the kiss quickly fading to the burning heat of mortification. After a full minute of Maya laughing herself nearly to tears, she looked up at Fiona and said, with the straightest face she could, “I’m down for yours.”

Ok. Nope. _This_ was how Fiona died.

**Author's Note:**

> you better BELIEVE i have more


End file.
